British Columbia’s election

It’s the economy, stupid

A thumbs-up for pipelines

IN A beautiful land of forests, mountains and fjords, it is no surprise that British Columbian politics has a greenish streak. But the economy in Canada’s westernmost province is languishing. The campaign for the provincial election on May 14th turned into a fight between jobs and the environment. Jobs won, and so, probably, did planned pipelines across the province to take oil and gas from Alberta to Asian markets.

Contrary to the findings of most opinion polls, the provincial Liberal Party (no relation to the federal party of the same name) hung on to power, winning 50 seats—one more than in the 2009 election—to 33 for the main opposition, the left-of-centre New Democratic Party (NDP). The result was a triumph for Christy Clark, the premier, spoilt only by the fact that she seemed to have lost her own seat (by 785 votes) to the NDP. If this result survives a possible recount, the premier is expected to remain in office by triggering a by-election in a safe seat.

Ms Clark, a 47-year-old single mother and former radio phone-in host, began a second spell in provincial politics in 2011, taking over an unpopular Liberal government. She ran a well-judged campaign, promising to boost jobs and curb spending. The main issue became a series of proposed energy, pipeline and mining projects. Ms Clark has given conditional backing to Gateway, a pipeline to export oil from Alberta to a British Columbian harbour, which is being reviewed by the federal government. She gave a more enthusiastic welcome to projects for natural-gas pipelines and terminals in the province, saying they would bring jobs and tax revenues.

The NDP’s Adrian Dix wanted to raise education spending; create a separate provincial review of Gateway; launch other inquiries into natural-gas fracking, and block a new pipeline to Vancouver and any expansion of tanker shipments from its port. Ms Clark dubbed her opponent “Dr No”. That stuck, allowing her to shake off criticism of the Liberal government’s botched harmonisation of provincial and federal sales taxes, and a controversy dating back to 2003 concerning the sale of information about the privatisation of British Columbia’s passenger-train services.

The campaign may prove the easy part for Ms Clark. She is likely to have to cut spending to balance the budget. Concerns about the environmental impact of the pipeline and gas projects will not melt away, and getting them built could be a long haul. But she is not the only one with work to do after the election. Canada’s pollsters, already smarting from failing to predict a Conservative victory in last spring’s Alberta election, have another fiasco on their hands.